Dark Stories: On This Day In True Crime History - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1952: Jan Novotny Hanged at Fannie Bay Gaol for the Murder of a Darwin Taxi Driver

In April 1952, Czech migrants John Novotny, 19, and Jerry Koci, 20, hailed a taxi in Darwin driven by George Thomas Grantham, one of the town’s best-known cab owners. Ten miles out of town, Novotny shot Grantham in the face with a rifle he had purchased just days earlier, dragged the body into scrub 13 miles from Darwin, and fled south in the stolen taxi. The pair were intercepted on a Queensland road near Duchess, nearly 1,000 miles away, two days later.

At the Supreme Court, Novotny confessed in broken English: ‘I buy rifle in Darwin. Me and my friend get driver take us along road. Ten miles out I shoot driver with rifle, drag driver out of car.’ Both men were convicted of murder before Judge Kriewaldt. Novotny was hanged at Fannie Bay Gaol on 7 August 1952.

Suspects Jonas Nopotry and Jerr Koci leaving Mt Isa Police Court 1952

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Australia Darwin Execution Murder NT Trial

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1888: Martha Tabram Slain in Whitechapel, Possibly Jack the Ripper’s First Victim

In the early hours of 7 August 1888, Martha Tabram was found dead in George Yard Buildings, Whitechapel, stabbed 39 times. The 39-year-old had spent the previous evening drinking with a companion and two soldiers before separating in the early hours, never to be seen alive again. Though not among the canonical five Ripper victims, she is widely regarded as the most likely additional candidate.

Born Martha White in Southwark in 1849, she had lived a troubled life marked by a failed marriage, heavy drinking, and poverty. By 1888, separated from her long-term partner Henry Turner and evicted from their Commercial Road lodgings, she had been forced into street prostitution. Her killer was never identified.

Portrait of Martha Tabram victim of a Victorian era murder case

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Cold Case London Murder Serial Killer UK Unsolved Whitechapel

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1890: William Kemmler: The First Man Executed by Electric Chair

William Kemmler, a vegetable peddler from the slums of Buffalo, New York, became the first person in history executed by electric chair. On March 29, 1889, in the grip of a drunken rage, he accused his common-law wife Matilda ‘Tillie’ Ziegler of theft and betrayal, retrieved a hatchet from the barn, and beat her to death. He then walked to a neighbour’s house and announced what he had done.

Convicted of first-degree murder in May 1889 and sentenced to death, Kemmler was chosen as the inaugural test of New York’s new electrocution law, which had replaced hanging on January 1, 1888. His execution at Auburn Prison on August 6, 1890 did not go smoothly. Developers including George Westinghouse had fought to block use of their technology for executions, and legal appeals argued the chair violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The appeals failed, and Kemmler died in the chair, though witnesses reported the process was prolonged and deeply disturbing.

Illustration of a man executed by electrocution in electric chair

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Execution Murder Trial USA

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1991: Sir Terence Lewis, Queensland Police Commissioner, Convicted of Corruption

Sir Terence Lewis, Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service from 1976 to 1987, was found guilty on 5 August 1991 of 15 counts of corruption and one of forgery, following the explosive Fitzgerald Inquiry into police misconduct. A District Court jury determined that Lewis had accepted bribes totalling $700,000 to protect brothels, SP bookmakers, illegal casinos, and gaming machine operators. He had been handpicked for the commissioner’s role in 1976 by Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, bypassing 122 more senior officers.

Judge Healy sentenced Lewis to the maximum term available: 14 years for corruption and 10 years for forgery, to be served concurrently. Lewis was stripped of his knighthood and two other awards. He continued to protest his innocence and pursued appeals until the last one failed in August 2005.

Terence Murray Lewis, Queensland Police Commissioner. © State of Queensland (Queensland Police Service); original photographer unknown. Retouched by Georgfotoart. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

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Australia Brisbane Corruption Organised Crime Police Political Crime QLD Trial

1952: Jan Novotny Hanged at Fannie Bay Gaol for the Murder of a Darwin Taxi Driver

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1888: Martha Tabram Slain in Whitechapel, Possibly Jack the Ripper’s First Victim

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1890: William Kemmler: The First Man Executed by Electric Chair

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1991: Sir Terence Lewis, Queensland Police Commissioner, Convicted of Corruption

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